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Join the Collaborative Leaders Network

Members of the Collaborative Leaders Network (CLN) come from all walks of life. We are leaders of businesses and organizations, we are practitioners, and we are community members. What connects us is our belief that collaborative leadership and practices are necessary for solving the complex problems we face in Hawaii. There is no cost to joining CLN, nor any obligation to participate. Membership entitles you to contribute your own ideas and experiences to the site, receive updates, and engage with other collaborative leaders who are finding ways to shape Hawaii for the better.

Critical success factors for Collaborative Problem Solving

An issue or opportunity of sufficient importanceand urgency to create the general recognition of a need for attention;

A convener of sufficient stature to help mobilize the necessary resources and the participation of key stakeholders—without an expectation that the process will result in a pre-determined outcome;

Sufficient time and resources to design and implement a process that allows for background inquiry, careful deliberation, and essential technical analysis;

Participation by necessary stakeholders to help ensure that agreements reached about strategies will be regarded as legitimate;

A charter or set of principles developed with the group to reflect agreements about what the group’s mission is, how the group will function, and how decisions will be made;

A skilled process leader(s) to help design a collaborative process that engenders the full understanding and support of individual participants;

A carefully crafted process to encourage creativity in the design or re-design of potential strategies to address the issue or opportunity;

Opportunities to consult constituencies or technical experts who are not participating in the process;

Credible technical analysis to support the analysis of strategies;

A group decision that is regarded by the participants as effective, wise, and durable;

A plan, set of recommendations, or other policy document that summarizes the issue, process, and proposed strategy in sufficient detail to serve as both an action agenda and a reference document for others engaged with the issue.

About Strategies

This section features a step-by-step description of six different approaches to problem solving and includes tools, vignettes, and checklists useful to practicing facilitators.